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Manchester 250: Monday 1 October

The Hilton’s smoking bog roll and speed cameras make a million

Published on October 1st 2007.

BEETHAM TOWER was evacuated in the early hours of this morning after a cigarette burnt a toilet roll and activated fire alarms. 300 guests were removed from the Hilton Hotel which occupies the first 23 floors of the tower. Hotel general manager Bernadette Gilligan said: “A guest put a cigarette near to a toilet roll in one of the smoking rooms and it started to smoulder. The hotel has not suffered any damage and is fully operational.”

SPEED CAMERAS in Greater Manchester rake in £1.5m a year. A total of 29,805 fines have been issued across the city in the last year. Paul Smith, founder of campaign group Safe Speed, said: “Neither the speed limit nor the speed camera really knows what too fast is. No wonder they've been a disaster as far as road safety policy.”

POLICE PATROLS are to be increased for Manchester United’s match against Roma on Tuesday. This is a result of trouble between fans last time the teams met. Match Commander, Superintendent John Graves, said: “We want to make sure everyone understands that we will not tolerate violence at this match.”

GOALKEEPER Edwin Van der Sar is out of the line-up for United’s Champions League match against Roma. The Dutchman who has a toe injury was immediately ruled out of Tuesday's Old Trafford tie. Sir Alex Ferguson said: “It's a worry when you lose a man of his experience but Tomasz Kuszczak is very able and I'm pleased we've got someone as good as that.”

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